Is he the next Sage Northcutt? That's the first question on my mind when I hear that Dana White's reality show "Lookin' for a Fight" has uncovered another new UFC signing. Of course, I'm not even sure that Sage Northcutt is Sage Northcutt yet, but that hardly matters when you're moving at the speed of hype. Brown's signing to the UFC was announced on Saturday, during the UFC 195 broadcast. The young welterweight will be making his debut on January 30th on UFC on Fox 18, against Canadian welterweight Matt Dwyer. So...
Who is Randy Brown?
The 25-year old "Rude Boy" is a Jamaican-American welterweight fighting out of Queens, New York and the Budokan Martial Arts Academy, a Renzo Gracie BJJ affiliate. He's also spent time training at more notable camps like the Renzo Gracie BJJ camp that's brought Rafael Natal, Ricardo Almeida, and many others to the UFC, and Bellmore Kickboxing alongside Andre Harrison. He's coming to the UFC with a 6-0 undefeated record and the Ring of Combat Welterweight title around his waist. All of his wins have come by stoppage, with Brown having never seen the third round as a professional. His most notable win to date came over the 11-3 (at the time) Ben Brewer, otherwise his record is made up of the kind of tough (if unremarkable on paper) .500 vets that seem to populate the east coast fight scene. Prior to his MMA career, Brown got his start in combat sports as an amateur boxer.
As an interesting side note, Brown explained his childhood growing up in an interview with CombatPress.com:
"A lot of people actually think that I was born in Jamaica. I actually wasn't born in Jamaica; I was born in Springfield, Massachusetts," Brown clarified. "At a young age, my mom got deported and my dad was in jail, so I ended up... I wouldn't say that I was a problem child, but I had a lot of issues. So, I got sent to Jamaica with my mom and I spent most of my time in Jamaica. I pretty much grew up in Jamaica and came back to America at about [age] 15 or 16, and I have just been going back and forth ever since. I represent Jamaica. I definitely represent Jamaica because that's where I was raised and my whole culture and everything that I know and all of my family is from Jamaica. I spent most of my life there, so that's pretty much what I represent."
...
"It definitely made me who I am," Brown admitted. "I didn't grow up in the sunshine part of Jamaica that you guys get to see on TV, with the beaches and all that stuff. I grew up in the ghetto, man. I had to walk a mile just to get some water. People would build up a wooden shack, like a one-bedroom with a piece of zinc for a door. Like sheet metal zinc for a door, and that's what we had for a door. No lights, candles, that sort of thing. Growing up in that type of environment definitely shaped who I am now and made me hard-nosed and feel like I can overcome anything because of the things that I have been through in Jamaica with the violence and all that shit."
What you should expect:
Honestly, no real solid idea, because there's no good fight footage out there of Brown. Off the highlights I've seen it looks like his key attribute, other than being a great athlete, is his aggression. It seems like he's a decent puncher and understands the basics of combination boxing (and he certainly looks good sparring), but most of his actual KO's I've seen are from wild ground and pound so it's hard to be sold on him as a masterful technician at the moment. I'm also assuming his wrestling isn't great as clips show him hitting sweeps off his back, but never takedowns, or how he got to the mat in the first place. Considering he's just a year and a half into his pro career, that's not surprising, but his learning curve might be steep.
What this means for his debut:
This is tough, because honestly, there's not a lot that I've seen that separates Randy Brown and Matt Dwyer right now. Both guys are big and lanky, both are aggressive more than anything, neither guy is known for his wrestling, and both had a strong string of fast finishes before getting to the UFC. The biggest thing that may separate them is that Dwyer has had a few more years of training and experience in MMA under his belt. He hasn't looked awesome in the UFC, but it's worth remembering that his losses are to Albert Tumenov and Alan Jouban... That doesn't mean he's not still good enough to beat a newcomer with even less experience than him. To put a finer point on it, this isn't Sage Northcutt vs. Frank Trevino. Without seeing more than I have from Brown, I might have to pick Dwyer.